SPOKANE, Wash. — Thousands of artifacts from local military history have been sitting in storage since August 2018 instead of being on display because Honor Point Museum was forced out of their last property.
There is room after room full of packed boxes with everything from canons to old uniforms. Veteran Elliott Briggs, who is president of the Honor Point Museum, said all of the artifacts represent local Spokane military history.
“We've been honored to have military here in Spokane since 1897," Briggs said. "What we want to do is welcome our veterans and say thank you for their service.”
But they can't do that without a place to display their mementos. As a former helicopter mechanic in the Army, Briggs finds the museum's mission close to his heart.
“I had quite a few good buddies of mine in Vietnam that didn’t make it, so this is important,” he said.
It's important that the museum finds a permanent home where they can display their pieces of Spokane History. The museum has had to relocate four times since it opened at Fairchild Air Force Base in the 1980s.
Tightened security forced them off base, then their displays were in and out of the MAC Museum before they found a hanger to rent and use at Felts Field. But after a few years in the hanger, rent increased dramatically.
"Our rent went up 40% and we had to leave," Briggs said.
Photos: Artifacts from Spokane's Honor Point Museum
Now it's been over a year since Honor Point has been without a physical museum. Their artifacts are in an unheated warehouse with an unstable roof, which has taken a toll on the quality of some of the more sensitive pieces being stored there.
"We're looking for someone that finds that it's important to present this to the community and to keep this alive," he said.
If Honor Point doesn't find a permanent solution soon, they will have to start giving their pieces to other museums around the country.
"It would leave Spokane, and that's the problem that we have is that this is Spokane," Briggs said.